Rules

Entries

Each club should nominate a club email secretary to whom information on pairings and contact will be sent out. The information will also be made available more widely, including this web site.

All teams must identify a captain responsible for organising the team and contacting the controller.

Information on pairings and contacts will be sent out to all nominated captains, preferably by email. The home captain is responsible for confirming the date of the match at least 10 days before the match. The home team is responsible for providing all equipment. Normal ECF Rapidplay rules apply. Players do not have to keep score.

All entries must be received by Friday 21 September 2007.

Entries are restricted to 32 teams.

Teams

Each team consists of three players who play all opposition team members. Each club may enter as many separate teams as it wishes, but no person may play for more than one team in each season.

Players

If a player does not have a current grade, the captain should contact the controller before the match so that a suitable estimate can be used.

Format

The competition will be a straight knockout with a prearranged match draw.

As soon as possible after the entries are received all captains will be contacted with the dates within which rounds will be played.

Each match will consist of 9 games with each player having 3 games with a total time limit of 40 minutes per game split between the two players. A gap of 5–10 minutes should be allowed between games.

The teams must be listed in grade order; the team with the lower total grade will be team A and the higher team B. In the event of the teams being of equal total grade, the away team will be team A.

The pairings will be:

Game 1:

B3 v A1

A2 v B1

A3 v B2

Game 2:

B2 v A1

A2 v B3

B1 v A3

Game 3:

A1 v B1

B2 v A2

A3 v B3

The players start with a nominal 20 minutes each and the time handicap will adjust it as follows:

Grading diff.

Lower graded

Higher graded

0–4

20

20

5–8

21

19

9–12

22

18

13–16

23

17

17–20

24

16

21–24

25

15

25–28

26

14

29–32

27

13

33–36

28

12

37–40

29

11

41–44

30

10

45–48

32

8

49+

34

6

(Note the change to the times for large grading differences. In previous seasons heavily outgraded teams have not been able to take advantage of the handicap.)